Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

5.29.2008

I received an email from the Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle today. They are a non-profit group who go around and harvest all the neighborhood fruit trees out here in the West Seattle, White Center and Delridge neighborhoods. The fruit (and vegetables) they harvest is then distributed locally by way of food banks and other outlets to those in need of fresh produce who could not afford it otherwise. They also provide fruit canning, tree pruning and veggie gardening classes to anybody who is interested. The group is growing rapidly, it looks like they have a goal of harvesting 2000 lbs of produce this year, all from our community's yards and gardens, pretty cool huh. They harvested our plum tree last year and reportedly pulled a couple hundred pounds of plums off of it, though the marker for our tree on the website's map indicates only 45 pounds.This is how I first became involved with the group. Then I mentioned that I was in design school and could possibly help develop a logo for them. They agreed to let me have a whack at it and I noticed today that they have put it into use on their website, it is the little house with a heart-shaped piece of fruit in it, along with the slogan I suggested "Sharing from our hearts and our gardens." I am not trying to brag, merely excited to see my first logo design actually being put to use! Especially for what I feel is such a worthy and exciting cause.

I had to take a break from the group as my workload at school became too heavy, but hope to get involved with them again this summer. The most fascinating part of the whole thing to me is the idea of contributing to a more sustainable lifestyle. After a whole winter of buying out-of-season organic produce, some of which is farmed and harvested thousands of miles from West Seattle or grown in hothouses in California, it is exciting to me to think of what we could produce in our urban environment that would travel a thousandth of that distance from where it is grown to where it is consumed. Also, after meeting the local food bank manager, I am deeply concerned about the quality of food available to people with lower income. Especially with the economy in the state it is, healthy, natural food is becoming more and more out of reach, contributing to the declining health of our population. What I see in this fledgling organization is hope for change in the way that we live our lives and I am happy to see that they are not just giving away produce, but also focusing on developing skills for people to learn how to provide for themselves, using their own land here in the city!